Montakit Fuenlabrada KO’s Murcia

Montakit Fuenlabrada kept its quarterfinals chances alive with an 85-69 victory over UCAM Murcia on Tuesday. Fuenlabrada improved to 2-3 and will advance if it defeats Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas on the road next week in Round 6. Murcia fell to 1-4 and lost its chances to advance. Pako Cruz paced the winners with 16 points and Marko Popovic added 13 for the winners, who made 14 of 31 three-pointers (45.2%). Nemanja Radovic scored a Murcia record 26 points on 10-of-12 shooting, Vitor Benite added 11 points and 5 assists and Marcos Delia had 10 points in defeat. Radovic scored 20 first-half points to help the visitors lead 44-47 at the break, but Fuenlabrada used a 10-0 run that bridged the third and fourth quarters to take control for good.

After Rolands Smits opened the scoring for Fuenlabrada, Radovic scored three times in a 0-9 run to give Murcia control. Radovic scored twice more to extend the margin to 5-13, but soon back-to-back threes by Luka Rupnik and Smits drained back-to-back threes to cap a 10-0 run that put the hosts on top. And Cruz gave Fuenlabrada a 22-19 edge after 10 minutes. Ian O’Leary and Cruz connected on threes to boost the lead to 31-23. Radovic scored 6 in a 0-9 Murcia run that helped Murcia regain the lead at 33-34. Billy Baron scored 4 points and Facundo Campazzo took a steal in for a layup to put the visitors up by 6, but a Popovic triple made it 44-47 at the break. Rupnik tied the game with a three to start the second half and his next triple gave Fuenlabrada a 54-53 edge. After a Benite three for Murcia, the hosts scored 6 straight points to lead by 4. Radovic followed with a basket-plus-foul, but Cruz gave Fuenlabrada a 62-59 edge through three quarters. Rafael Hettsheimeir scored half the points in an 8-0 run to open the fourth quarter that gave Fuenlabrada a double-digit advantage. Back-to-back threes by David Wear and Hettsheimeir extended the lead to 76-61 and the hosts cruised the rest of the way.